Naturally, vehicles come with upkeep and responsibilities. This is especially true for those who use their Jeep Wranglers for off-roading adventures. Forgoing Jeep maintenance can make the vehicle start wearing and tearing sooner than you can imagine, leading to costly service repairs.
In this post, we explore some essential Jeep maintenance tips to protect your safety, help avoid costly Jeep repairs, and keep your vehicle running smoothly.
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Upgrade Your Jeep’s Lights
As an avid Jeep enthusiast, you need an efficient and reliable lighting system for your off-road adventures. By customizing and upgrading your Jeep’s lighting system, you boost not only the vehicle’s functionality and safety but also its appearance. Consider swapping Jeep halogen lights with new LED lights from xkglow.com for much greater performance.
Jeep LED lights are automotive lights that leverage a semiconductor to produce light rather than a light bulb. Unlike a standard halogen bulb that only yields about 1,000 hours of light, LED lights allow you to enjoy up to 15,000 hours of light. Some of the best LED light types you can add to your Jeep include LED headlights, fog lights, turn signal lights, taillights, and accessory lights.
Regularly Change the Jeep’s Oil
Changing the Jeep’s oil is an essential maintenance procedure that your vehicle must undergo to operate properly. You can do this procedure at home without necessarily making a trip to the mechanic. Just ensure you park your vehicle on a level surface before checking the oil. Also, turn the engine off and leave the Jeep for about 5 minutes.
When removing the oil, identify the drain plug situated in the oil pan and position a catch basin underneath. Allow the oil to drain into the basin, get rid of the old oil filter, and put back the drain plug. After that, add fresh oil to the oil filter gasket and put it into your engine.
The good thing with Jeeps is that they are usually high enough from the ground. This means you can easily get under them without the need for a jack stand or jack.
Perform Fluid Check and Change
On top of the engine oil, a Jeep has many other fluids, like transmission, power steering, brake, and radiator fluids. Each vehicle’s owner manual gives specifications of the required level of fluids it should maintain to function effectively.
How often you change your Jeep fluids depends on factors like the terrain you drive on. You should make it a habit to regularly change your Jeep fluids to keep the vehicle in perfect working condition and avoid potential risks.
Substitute the Jeep’s Air Filter Regularly
Changing the air filter in the Jeep regularly will help supply the vehicle’s engine with clean air. It is advisable to replace the air filter in the Jeep every 20,000 miles. However, if you go off-roading regularly, you have to do it more frequently.
Off-roading, especially on dusty trails, clogs up air filters quickly, reducing their lifespan. If you often drive your vehicle on dusty roads, prepare to substitute its air filters every 12,000 or fewer miles.
Change the Jeep’s Brake Pads
As time passes, brake pads start to lose effectiveness and wear down. Worn-out brake pads put you at risk when driving as you may fail to hold the brakes in time, resulting in a collision. You should check your brake pads occasionally to ensure they remain in perfect working condition.
Automotive experts recommend that you replace the brake pads every 25,000 to 60,000 miles. The frequency depends on how you maintain the vehicle, where you drive, and how often you go off-roading.
Keep an Eye On the Wheel Alignment
When your Jeep wheels are poorly aligned, it causes numerous problems, such as increased wear and tear to the tires, decreased fuel efficiency, maneuverability, and poor vehicle handling. In severe cases of wheel misalignment, your Jeep may seem to be moving more to the right or left, posing a safety hazard.
Due to this, ensure you inspect your wheels for misalignment every 20,000 miles. If you usually take your Jeep to heavy off-roading adventures, it will be best to check its wheel alignment more frequently. That’s because the difficult terrains and rugged trails make it easy to hit the wheels out of alignment.
Rotate the Tires
If you want your tires to serve you for the longest time and give you the maximum possible miles, consider rotating them regularly. A Jeep’s front two tires often wear faster compared to the rear ones. This is mostly due to the intense pressure on the outer edges of the front tires during turns.
Rotating the tires allows the thread on them to wear down evenly. This maintenance procedure can save you money while extending the life of your Jeep’s large, expensive tires. Consider rotating the tires every six months or after 6,000 to 9,000 miles, based on what comes first.
Check and Adjust Your Tire Pressure
It is important to assess and adjust your Jeep’s tire pressure monthly to make them long-lasting. Extremely high or low tire pressure can lead to uneven tire wear, making the tire pop and call for more frequent replacement.
Most jeep owners go off-roading air down their tire pressure to gain better traction on rough terrains, uneven rocks, and dusty roads. But once you are done off-roading, you should restore the tire pressure to its recommended pressure. Leaving the vehicle pressure at low levels can damage the tires when driving on paved roads, leading to reduced fuel efficiency, blowouts, and more.
Put Grease into Action
One of the things that can slowly kill your vehicle components is excessive friction. After that long, rough ride, treat your Jeep to fresh grease in sections like bearings, driveshafts, and u-joints. Failure to grease your vehicle can make friction, causing squeaking sounds and, ultimately, costly damage. Consider applying grease when changing the oil to keep the Jeep lubed up.
When it comes to Jeep maintenance, one essential aspect is choosing the top winches for your vehicle, as outlined in the related article, providing crucial insights for Jeep owners.
Wash and Wax the Vehicle Regularly
Through regular washing, you will be able to remove the grime and dirt that can hurt your Jeep and allow rust to come in. Clean the vehicle after every off-roading adventure and once a week if you use it less.
While at it, avoid excessive washing or using powerful cleansers, as they can weaken the paint and cause the metal armor to rust. In addition, give the Jeep proper waxing twice a year to keep its paint intact.
Proper Jeep maintenance will increase its lifespan and give you a memorable driving experience. You will also avoid costly breakdowns and repairs as well as get to keep yourself safe while on the road.